Decision Points Audiobook | George Bush | Audible.com Overall "Maybe George wasn't as stupid as we thought!" I had been no fan of George Bush or his administration but this book is still compelling listening. Its not an autobiography as such, its a series of chapters that details the most important issues that arose while he was President and his thought processes as he dealt with them. He doesn't always explain his reasons clearly but crucially he does go into some depth about the war's in Iraq and Afghanistan and why he took the action he did. Whether you agree with him or not is a different matter but he clearly believes that he did the right thing and he gives his reasons - which I thought were quite compelling in fairness. There are an awful lot of thought provoking points that he makes in this book and whether you like him or loathe him I think its important to get his side of the story. 4 of 6 people found this review helpful Judy Corstjens Overall "Listening to the other point of view" I started this book with a definite prejudice against George Bush, and I ended up with about the same level of prejudice but a deeper understanding. I actually felt sorry for GWB on stem cells.

You do have to think about votes, and your base, as a politician. It is quite spooky to have the President himself intoning his words in your earphones, but I don't think an actor could have captured the essence of this guy as he does mouthing his own words. 2 of 3 people found this review helpful Andrew Story "Enlightening" As a U.K. Citizen I've always found myself more interested in US politics than that of the UK. During President Bush's administration,his goverment endured a perfect storm of terrorism, war and financial collapse. It was enlightening to hear the behind the scenes descriptions of why The Presidents arrived at the decisions that he did . No one can imagine the weight of responsibility the attacks on the World Trade Centre and this book has improved my respect and admiration for the man who had to make extraordinary decisions in extraordinary times. Recommended. 0 of 0 people found this review helpful Mr Nicholas J Purkis Story "An interesting book" Would you consider the audio edition of Decision Points to be better than the print version? Having George Bush read the book does bring it more to life and puts more of his stamp on the book.

I find the audio books great for travelling when you are unable to read or simply wanting to switch off and listen to something. Any additional comments? For anyone interested in Politics, this is a fascinating account of some of the key decisions which George W Bush took and how he made them. Whether you are a fan or not, it is still definitely worth listening to. 0 of 0 people found this review helpful Mrs. T. L. Brown Story "Not such a jerk" I found this audio book to be very interesting, like many others I had been lead to believe President GW Bush was a bit of a jerk, not very good with words, not very bright etc. this book has made me rethink my opinion of him, he made his decision's and stuck to them unlike many others, he believes he did the right things at the right time. Many will debate his actions for you years to come but I myself have changed my mind about him. He cares deeply for his country, is proud of his country and let's face it would anybody have been ready to deal with what 9/11 threw at him. 1 of 2 people found this review helpful Christopher Overall "Interesting" Couldn't resist this book, read by the author.

I was a little uncertain whether to use my credit or not, as the media can have a powerful effect on one's opinion about somebody. Indeed this shows a completely different side to the President who was so poorly displayed in the media. Enjoyable and read well, and it was great to get the opinions of the ex President. I am glad I;ve read it and would recommend it to friends (and indeed you) if you like to read some different books in amongst your usual genres. 1 of 2 people found this review helpful Donn Edwards Decision Points Audiobook | George W. Bush | Audible.com "Not a bad choice" First of all, I did not find this a spellbinding listen. It is a basic memoir but I'm glad GW did it. None-the-less, this should not detract from a good job done by the reader - Ron McLarty. However, I did find the book organization somewhat challenging. The story follows a chronological path to the White House then it jumps around per topic (or crisis). You've got to admit, it is sobering to reflect back on how the story of GW's term in office was basically one crisis after another - 911, Katrina, wars, financial meltdown.

Which makes it more interesting to read this today with the recent debt crisis. Yes, GW provides explanations for his decisions, but I did find some of his explanations not very satisfying (e.g. the auto bailout). So I rate this book (not unlike his term in office) - not especially great, but not especially bad either. "A basic memoir, more personal than expected." An interesting memoir. GW reviews what he considers the major points of his presidency, and why he made the decisions he did, who was involved, and in hindsight how good or bad he did. No, he does not think he was perfect, nor does he think he got everything wrong. Some of the personal high points he reviews not many would have even realized existed. A really interesting personal review of himself...but then I guess that is what a memoir is all about. I do wish it was read by the author though. "A very candid self reflection" I have always been relatively middle of the road when it comes to politics. I'm typically fiscally conservative while being socially liberal. But I always approach the media (CNN, FOX, MSNBC, whatever) with a great deal of skepticism and distrust. As the media portrayed G.W.

Bush as a militant conservative in all aspects, read this book with an OPEN MIND and you'll find that this is just not true. Yes, of course he made many decisions that were conservative, but he also put into action many programs and ideas that fall into the liberal agenda. And whatever your stance on Iraq and Afghanistan, his reasoning and decision making in these wars are fascinating. I have many friends that hate G.W. Bush, essentially, just because he's Bush and for no substantive reason. This book is not for them. I also have friends that are definitely Democrat in their thinking, and after reading this book they still don't agree with much in the way of his politics, but they but they understand and respect the man. On the other side of the coin, many conservatives will have severe heartburn with many of the decisions he made that addressed the liberal agenda. They came into this book looking for validation of a very conservative way of thinking. People I know have come away with an "I can't believe he did that" attitude towards some of the more liberal decisions he made. Regardless, G.W. Bush seems to write this book without regard to station in either the liberal or conservative camps.

He plainly outlines his major decisions, explains the thought and research that went into making those decisions, and leaves it to the readers to decide who the man really is. "A Thematic Book" Like Bush or not, the memoir is now available from Audible and this is it. I happened to be on the road and was able to listen to this volume from Audible and the former President's version as well. First, the book is thematic rather than chronological. What Bush does is take various "decision points" (get it?) and reminisce about his thought processes and reflect on the outcomes of each. The full version seems to follow this approach where the abridged version (narrated pleasantly by the President himself) seems to combine some material from other chapters. Second, the full version is read by Ron McLarty and the abridged version by the President. Here there is a trade off. Take the shorter version and you hear the President. Take the full version and you do not. I don't think that should be a make-or-break issue when deciding which version you might want. The downside is that there is quite a bit of material which is lost when listening only to the abridged version.

In sum, if you want to hear the President read and you just want a taste of the book then the abridgement might be for you. Otherwise, the full version may be more interesting. (Both are just one credit from Audible if not buying for cash). Third, Bush (not unlike Obama) has his detractors and critics. If you are a Bush basher, this book will not change your mind. However, this book (as any memoir) is best approached as an opportunity to hear an author’s personal interpretation of events. Take it for what it is, and you will be rewarded. If you are a Bush basher, this book will not change your mind. Bush does a good job of reading his abridgement and Ron McLarty is up to the challenge as well. “Take your chice and pay the price.” This book has made me look forward to Obama’s memoir when it is written – which is not to say that I am necessarily anxious to see him leave office either. "Changed my view of Bush" I'm currently at the 6th chapter of the unabridged edition. It is a great book, recounting the many decisions Bush has made and why he has made them.

So far, he has addressed his pre-political life, presidency campaign, appointment of chief justice and supreme court members, stem cell research funding decisions, and now his response to the Sept 11 attacks. The book clarifies so much of what was going through his mind and explains his actions and much of the media smear of his name. It has transformed my view of Bush and I thank him for being candid and writing this great historical resource. George W. Bush’s Memoir ‘Decision Points’ - Review - The New York Times The New York Times Books |In Bush Memoir, Policy Intersects With Personality Search Books | Books of The Times In Bush Memoir, Policy Intersects With Personality Photo President George W. Bush in 2007. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times George W. Bush ’s memoir “Decision Points” could well have been titled “The Decider Decides”: it’s an autobiography focused around “the most consequential decisions” of his presidency and his personal life from his decision to give up drinking in 1986 to his decision to invade Iraq in 2003 to his decisions regarding the financial crisis of 2008.

It is a book that is part spin, part mea culpa, part family scrapbook, part self-conscious effort to (re)shape his political legacy. A dogged work of reminiscence by an author not naturally given to introspection, “Decision Points” lacks the emotional precision and evocative power of his wife Laura’s book, “Spoken From the Heart,” published earlier this year, though it’s a considerably more substantial effort than Mr. Bush’s perfunctory 1999 campaign memoir, “A Charge to Keep.” Certainly it’s the most casual of presidential memoirs: how many works in the genre start as a sort of evangelical, 12-step confession (“Could I continue to grow closer to the Almighty or was alcohol becoming my god?”), include some off-color jokes and conclude with an aside about dog poop? The prose in “Decision Points” is utilitarian, the language staccato and blunt. Mr. Bush’s default mode is regular-guy-politico, and his moods vacillate mainly among the defensive and the diligent — frat boy irreverence, religious certainty and almost willful obliviousness.

Continue reading the main story The Bush who emerges from these pages will be highly familiar to readers of Bob Woodward’s quartet of books on the administration or Robert Draper’s 2007 “Dead Certain”: a president fond of big ideas and small comforts (like a daily run); a chief executive known for his optimism, stubbornness and lack of curiosity. At the same time “Decision Points” — sometimes deliberately, sometimes inadvertently — gives the reader an uncanny sense of how personality and the fateful interplay of personalities within an administration can affect policies that affect the world. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Along the way Mr. Bush acknowledges various mistakes. On his administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina he says, “As leader of the federal government, I should have recognized the deficiencies sooner and intervened faster.” On Iraq he says he regrets that “we did not respond more quickly or aggressively when the security situation started to deteriorate after Saddam’s regime fell,” that “cutting troop levels too quickly was the most important failure of execution in the war,” and that he still has “a sickening feeling every time” he thinks about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Still, he insists that “removing Saddam from power was the right decision”: “for all the difficulties that followed, America is safer without a homicidal dictator pursuing WMD and supporting terror at the heart of the Middle East.” In the course of this book Mr. Bush hops and skips over many serious issues raised by critics, including the cherry-picking of intelligence by administration hawks in the walk up to the invasion of Iraq; the push for aggrandized executive power by the White House in the war on terror; and the ignoring of advice from the military and the State Department on troop levels and postwar planning.

The former president does not address the role that the decision to divert resources to the war in Iraq played in the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, instead arguing that “the multilateral approach to rebuilding, hailed by so many in the international community, was failing.” He tries to play down the problems of Guantánamo Bay, writing that detainees were given “a personal copy of the Koran” and access to a library among whose popular offerings was “an Arabic translation of ‘Harry Potter.’ ” And he asserts that “had I not authorized waterboarding on senior al Qaeda leaders, I would have had to accept a greater risk that the country would be attacked.” Mr. Bush does not grapple with the role that his deregulatory, free market policies played in fueling the economic meltdown at the end of his second term. Nor does he take any responsibility for the fierce partisanship and political divisiveness that took root in his administration. Photo Credit Jake Guevara/The New York Times Several times in the book Mr. Bush uses the term “blindsided” to describe his feelings about a crisis that his advisers and cabinet seem not to have filled him in on.

He says he felt “blindsided” over Abu Ghraib: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld “had told me the military was investigating reports of abuse at the prison, but I had no idea how graphic or grotesque the photos would be,” he writes. “The first time I saw them was the day they were aired on ‘60 Minutes II.’ ” Mr. Bush says he told advisers he “never wanted to be blindsided like that again,” after a showdown between the White House and the Justice Department over a secret surveillance program. And he says “we were blindsided by a financial crisis that had been more than a decade in the making”: his focus, he writes, “had been kitchen-table economic issues like jobs and inflation. I assumed any major credit troubles would have been flagged by the regulators or rating agencies.” Many books by reporters and former insiders have delineated the Bush administration as given to improvisatory decision making, wary of the traditional processes of policy review and inclined to favor loyalty over expertise. In “The Assassins’ Gate,” the New Yorker writer George Packer quoted Richard N. Haass, a former director of policy planning in the State Department, saying that a real weighing of pros and cons about the Iraq war never took place.

And in “The Next Attack” Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon wrote that planning efforts for the war were often not coordinated, that many officials were working out of channels, “issuing directives without ever having their plans scrubbed in the kind of tedious, iterative process that the government typically uses to make sure it is ready for any contingency.” Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy In many respects this volume ratifies such observations. Mr. Bush, famous for being a “gut player,” writes that in assessing candidates for administration jobs, he looked at “character and personality” in an effort to create a culture that “fostered loyalty — not to me, but to the country and our ideals.” In 2006 an aide told him that “several people had spontaneously used the same unflattering term to describe the White House structure,” he writes. “It started with ‘cluster’ and ended with four more letters.” And he writes about “squabbling within the national security team” and how “nothing worked” to cool these turf battles, including his own talks with Mr. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin L.

Powell, Vice President Dick Cheney and the national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Despite the eagerness of Mr. Bush to portray himself as a forward-leaning, resolute leader, this volume sometimes has the effect of showing the former president as both oddly passive and strangely cavalier. For instance Mr. Bush writes about the failures to contain deteriorating security conditions in Iraq, continuing fights between the Pentagon and State Department, and his frustrations with Mr. Rumsfeld. But while he says that he had “planned to make a change at Defense as part of a new national security team” in 2004, he adds that he simply couldn’t come up with a replacement for Mr. Rumsfeld. He considered and rejected the ideas of putting Ms. Rice or Senator Joseph I. Lieberman in the job, and was rebuffed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, who “was enjoying his retirement.” The situation in Iraq continued to deteriorate over the next two years with more and more soldiers and civilians getting killed and wounded, and in the spring of 2006 a group of retired generals spoke out against Mr. Rumsfeld.

“While I was still considering a personnel change,” Mr. Bush writes, “there was no way I was going to let a group of retired officers bully me into pushing out the civilian secretary of defense. It would have looked like a military coup and would have set a disastrous precedent.” And so Mr. Rumsfeld stayed on in the job until an old friend of Mr. Bush’s from high school and college (whom he had appointed to the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board) suggested Robert M. Gates as a replacement. “Why hadn’t I thought of Bob?” Mr. Bush wonders. Mr. Bush’s portrait of Mr. Cheney reaffirms many reporters’ depiction of him as a steamrolling force for military intervention in Iraq. And Mr. Bush’s description of the momentum toward war echoes that found in Mr. Woodward’s book “Plan of Attack,” in which there was building pressure for action: Mr.

Bush says that the Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, told him “the uncertainty was hurting the economy,” and that Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia told him “the Middle East wanted a decision.” But while many books like “The Bushes” by Peter Schweizer and Rochelle Schweizer and “The Bush Tragedy” by Jacob Weisberg have emphasized the differences between George W. Bush and his father — and No. 43’s need to differentiate himself from No. 41 — the younger Bush takes pains in this memoir to underscore his closeness with his dad. He says that during family Christmas celebrations in 2002 his father said: “You know how tough war is, son, and you’ve got to try everything you can to avoid war,” and then added, “But if the man won’t comply, you don’t have any other choice.” Later, after Bush the Younger gave the order to go to war, he says that his father sent him a note saying: “You are doing the right thing. Your decision, just made, is the toughest decision you’ve had to make up until now. But you made it with strength and with compassion.” Mr.

Bush says he left office satisfied that “I had always done what I believed was right.” Since then, he says, he’s comfortably settled back into ordinary life. Shortly after moving to Dallas, he writes, he took his dog Barney for an early morning walk: “Barney spotted our neighbor’s lawn, where he promptly took care of his business. There I was, the former president of the United States, with a plastic bag on my hand, picking up that which I had been dodging for the past eight years.” DECISION POINTS Here Are The Top Ten Political Memoirs Nobody Remembers Anymore | The Huffington Post Here Are The Top Ten Political Memoirs Nobody Remembers Anymore 06/10/2014 01:57 pm ET | Updated Jun 10, 2014 110 Igor Bobic Associate Politics Editor, The Huffington Post Some critics have panned Hard Choices, Hillary Clinton's new book recounting her time at the State Department, as too dull and unimaginative. "Clinton’s account is the low-salt, low-fat, low-calorie offering with vanilla pudding as the dessert," wrote Slate's John Dickerson.

CNN contributor and GOP operative Ana Navarro suggested an alternative title: "50 Shades of Boring." But the tome, released Tuesday, follows a tried-and-true formula executed by countless forgettable political memoirs of the past in which American figures (and their ghostwriters) chronicle their path from humble beginnings to the public stage in little more than a mind-numbing, talking point-laden journey meant to catapult them to higher political office -- and the rest of America into deep sleep. Publishers often slap on feel-good yet bland catch phrases to the cover meant to burnish their author's brand with the electorate, centering on their leadership, such as John McCain's Hard Call and George W. Bush's Decision Points, or their character, such as Tim Pawlenty's Courage To Stand. Pages are turned, articles are written, cable segments are produced, and a few months later the much-hyped account is bookended by its predecessors on the nation's shelves, never to be opened again. So without further ado, and in no particular order, here are HuffPost's top ten political memoirs that nobody remembers anymore, along with the most groan-inducing lines from their Amazon descriptions.

Going rate on Amazon: $17.35 Yawn: "When Herman Cain speaks, people listen. When he debates, he wins." 2) Tim Pawlenty's Courage To Stand: An American Story Going rate on Amazon: $20.52 Yawn: "In Courage to Stand, Pawlenty reveals, for the first time, how he found the resolve to get the job done, taking readers all the way back to the lessons he learned as a boy in the gritty meatpacking town of South St. Paul." 3) John Kerry's A Call to Service: My Vision for a Better America Going rate on Amazon: $0.10 Yawn: "As an outsider among insiders in the U.S.

Senate, John Kerry has never been afraid to battle the political establishment and fight the fights that need fighting." 4) Joe Biden's Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics Going rate on Amazon: $19.59 Yawn: "As a United States senator from Delaware since 1973, Joe Biden has been an intimate witness to the major events of the past four decades and a relentless actor in trying to shape recent American history." 5) Dick Gephardt's An Even Better Place: America in the 21st Century Going rate on Amazon: $4.70 Yawn: "But many Americans have never heard what Gephardt really thinks about the challenges we now face as a nation and as Americans.

Until now." 6) Marco Rubio's An American Son: A Memoir Going rate on Amazon: $15.88 Yawn: "But he has never before told the full story of his unlikely journey, with all the twists and turns that made him an American son." 7) John McCain's Hard Call: The Art of Great Decisions Going rate on Amazon: $24.99 Yawn: "Woven into these stories are John McCain's own views on the process and art of decision-making and examples of the hard calls we face in our lives." 8) Rick Santorum's Blue Collar Conservatives: Recommitting to an America That Works Going rate on Amazon: $21.16 Yawn: "This inspiring and challenging new book is sure to make a splash this mid-election year and beyond." 9) Dennis Kucinich's A Prayer for America Going rate on Amazon: $10.70 Yawn: "When Congressman Dennis Kucinich delivered his speech, 'A Prayer for America,' to the Southern California chapter of Americans for Democratic Action, it electrified the whole country." 10) Mitt Romney's No Apology: The Case for American Greatness Going rate

 on Amazon: $9.69 Yawn: "Personal and dynamically-argued, No Apology is a call to action by a man who cares deeply about America’s history, its promise, and its future." Runners-up (best used as paper weights) Bill Clinton's My Life Going rate on Amazon: $16.41 Yawn: "Here is the life of a great national and international figure, revealed with all his talents and contradictions, told openly, directly, in his own completely recognizable voice.

A unique book by a unique American." Dan Quayle's Standing Firm: A Vice-Presidential Memoir Going rate on Amazon: $3.75 Yawn: "The former vice president and conservative spokesman offers a personal account of his controversial years in the White House, from helping prosecute the war against Iraq to starting the 'Murphy Brown' debate over family values." Olympia Snowe's Fighting for Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress Going rate on Amazon: $18.93 Yawn: "A leading moderate with a reputation for crossing the aisle, Senator Snowe will propose solutions for bridging the partisan divide in Washington, most notably through a citizens’ movement to hold elected officials accountable." Kill it with fire (as kindling) Lanny Davis' Truth To Tell: Tell It Early, Tell It All, Tell It Yourself: Notes from My White House Education Going rate on Amazon: $17.91 Yawn: "With refreshing candor, Davis admits his own mistakes and reveals those instances where he dug a deeper hole for himself by denying the obvious and obfuscating the truth." Meghan McCain's Dirty Sexy Politics Going rate on Amazon: $23.99 Yawn: "Meghan

 McCain came to prominence as the straight-talking, progressive daughter of the 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain.

And her profile has only risen since the election ended in favor of the other guy." Also on HuffPost: George W Bush memoir 'Decision Points' to go on sale - Telegraph US Politics George W Bush memoir 'Decision Points' to go on sale George W Bush will on Monday begin a media blitz that will thrust him back into the lives of Americans after two years of near silent retirement. George W Bush in his first TV interview since leaving the White House Photo: NBC George W Bush in his first TV interview since leaving the White House Photo: NBC By Alex Spillius, Washington 10:07PM GMT 07 Nov 2010 The former US president campaign to rehabilitate his reputation in multiple interviews and television appearances to publicise the memoir, which is published this week both in the US and UK. He will be on screens and the airwaves every day for a week, conducting interviews with giants of American broadcasting such as Oprah Winfrey and Jay Leno. On Winfrey's show he will be accompanied by his parents, former President George Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush, while his wife Laura will join him on a breakfast television appearance.

Coming just a week after President Barack Obama's Democratic allies in Congress were trounced in the mid-term elections , the release of Mr Bush's book Decision Points is being treated as a timely reminder of how rapidly political fortunes can alter. When he left office, Mr Bush's approval rating was at a low of 25 per cent that equalled Richard Nixon's on the eve of his resignation in 1974. Related Articles Bush's memoir reveals 9/11 orders 29 Oct 2010 Americans were appalled at the near collapse of the economy in the autumn of 2008, while many vilified him for starting the Iraq war. Mr Obama in contrast was riding a wave of optimism. But with the economy stagnating and many voters doubting Mr Obama's agenda, a recent CNN poll found that only two per cent more people thought he was a better president than his predecessor. At souvenir shops in Washington T-shirts are now for sale with Mr Bush's image and the question: "Miss Me Yet?" Former aides and advisers have been predicting a rehabilitation for Mr Bush for months. Mark McKinnon, a former campaign adviser to Mr Bush, said: "Time puts history into perspective.

People see the difficulties President Obama is facing and they know it's a tough job for any man or woman. This book will remind readers that Bush is a very good and decent man who made bold decisions under very difficult circumstances. "He always made decisions based on principles not because he was seeking political advantage or popularity." Republican leaders have said the time for blaming Mr Bush for America's troubles had expired. "The statute of limitations has passed for attacking President Bush," a spokesman for Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader in the Senate, told the New York Times. Since leaving office Mr Bush has limited his public appearances to a few paid speaking engagements. He has earned respect by following the traditional protocol of not criticizing his successor and remaining above the fray of current political debate. In his book, he goes as far as to praise Mr Obama for his "calm demeanour" at a White House meeting during the financial crisis. Mr Bush however appeared to agree with observers at the time that the behaviour of Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate, had been erratic. He suspended his campaign only to change his mind. then had little to say at the White House summit. "I was puzzled," Mr Bush wrote. "He had called for this meeting.

I assumed he would come prepared to outline a way to get the [bailout] bill passed." He suggested that Mr McCain missed an opportunity to mount a comeback. "In periods of crisis, voters value experience and judgment over youth and charisma. By handling the challenge in a statesmanlike way, John could make the case that he was the better candidate for the times," he wrote. George W Bush Memoirs: 'Decision Points' Book KANYE BELIEVE IT, THE WORST MOMENT IN BUSH'S PRESIDENCY WAS With his new memoir, Decision Points, and a promotion tour, the former president who in cockier times could not think of a single mistake he had made, lists many. He counts the years without a post-9/11 attack as his transcendent achievement. He says the economic calamity he handed to Barack Obama was "one ugly way to end a presidency". Related Content 'People didn't think I could read': Dubbya proves the critics wrong with memoir While he's been absent from the national scene, Bush's team has been busy. Some of the most polarising figures from his 2001-2009 presidency have found second lives in the political world.

Karl Rove, the operative who might as well have put "mastermind" on his business card, became a master money-raiser for the midterm elections in plenty of time to make Democrats apoplectic all over again. Advertisement Dick Cheney, the Bush vice-president whose influence rivalled if not surpassed Rove's, has tormented the Obama administration at many turns. Not Bush. George W. Bush's new book "Decision Points". Photo: AP He has given the occasional innocuous speech, has tended his presidential centre, has helped with Haiti earthquake relief and has offered glimpses of a life that has him walking Barney the dog in his Dallas neighbourhood with a poop bag, "picking up that which I had been dodging for the past eight years". Decision Points puts Bush back in the public eye. He'll be all over TV this week and beyond, from news and opinion shows to Oprah Winfrey and Jay Leno. But times have changed. Hard-driving Tea Party adherents, a post-Bush movement, helped to power a Republican takeover of the House and gains in the Senate in the recent elections, which is seemingly light years from the "compassionate conservatism" that Bush said he hoped to bring to the White House from Texas a decade ago.

For all the sour struggles of his time in Washington and the divisiveness over war policy, Bush pushed Congress to spend billions more on education and ushered in prescription drug coverage for seniors in a major expansion of healthcare, now overshadowed by Obama's overhaul. Those measures, too, are out of step with the Republican majority coming in. And he's not out to trash Obama in his new book. The Democrat, in his 2008 presidential campaign, spared no effort to criticise Bush for taking the US to war in Iraq, for letting the effort in Afghanistan flag and for presiding over an economy sinking into the Great Recession. Bush turns the other cheek, merely praising Obama's decision to add troops in Afghanistan. Instead he details difficult times with Cheney, still his friend, delivering some of the buzz-generating palace intrigue that is expected of any political memoir. Expect still more with memoirs coming out in January by Bush's first defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, and by Cheney himself in the spring. Bush was unpopular when he left office and he still is, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll in September.

In the survey, 55 per cent looked at him unfavourably and 51 per cent blamed him for the economic crisis that began on his watch. He says he won't be around to hear history's ultimate verdict and he's fine with that. But he offers this to the jury: "Commentators who once denounced president [Ronald] Reagan as a dunce and a warmonger talk about how the Great Communicator had won the Cold War." Bush's mistakes? In his view now they range from a badly named piece of legislation (the Patriot Act, implying those who opposed it were unpatriotic) to the momentously consequential claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (a justification for war) when none was found. He writes that he cut troop levels in Iraq too quickly. And that he misjudged the severity of the economic downturn in his final months as president, believing the US might still avoid a recession even as "the house of cards was about to come tumbling down". "The Decider," as he called himself in the White House, says the fallout over the government's response to Hurricane Katrina "cast a cloud" over his second term. "The problem was not that I made the wrong decisions," he argues.

"It was that I took too long to decide." He says he should have acted sooner to order an evacuation and send troops, and did not show adequate empathy for victims. In a lighter vein, his regrets extend to a scene in Baghdad in December 2008 when an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at him and called him a dog. "The guy had a pretty live arm," Bush says. "I wish I had caught the damn thing." Nuclear facility In his book, Bush also reveals he considered ordering a US military strike against a suspected Syrian nuclear facility at Israel's request in 2007 but ultimately opted against it. Israel eventually destroyed the facility, which Syria denied was aimed at developing a nuclear weapons capability. Bush wrote that he received an intelligence report about a "suspicious, well-hidden facility in the eastern desert of Syria" that looked similar to a nuclear facility at Yongbyon, North Korea. This prompted suspicions that Syria was trying to develop a weapons program with North Korean help. Shortly afterward, he spoke by phone to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "George, I'm asking you to bomb the compound," Olmert told Bush, according to the book. Bush said he discussed options with his national security team.

A bombing mission was considered "but bombing a sovereign country with no warning or announced justification would create severe blowback", he wrote. A covert raid was discussed but it was considered too risky to slip a team in and out of Syria undetected. Bush received an intelligence assessment from then-CIA Director Mike Hayden, who reported that analysts had high confidence the plant housed a nuclear reactor but low confidence of a Syrian nuclear weapons program. Bush said he told Olmert: "I cannot justify an attack on a sovereign nation unless my intelligence agencies stand up and say it's a weapons program." Olmert was disappointed by Bush's decision. "Your strategy is very disturbing to me," Olmert told Bush, according to the book. Bush denies charges that arose at the time that he had given a "green light" for Israel to attack the installation. "Prime Minister Olmert hadn't asked for a green light and I hadn't given one. He had done what he believed was necessary to protect Israel," Bush wrote. In Jerusalem, Olmert's office declined to comment on the disclosures in the Bush memoir. Israel has never formally confirmed carrying out the sortie nor that it targeted a nuclear facility.

The Olmert government was pursuing indirect peace talks with Syria at the time. But Olmert, who resigned in a corruption scandal in 2008, has recently lifted the veil, speaking of a "daring operation" that he ordered despite opposition from his rival, Ehud Barak, who was then and now is defence minister. Bush wrote that Olmert's "execution of the strike" against the Syrian compound made up for the confidence he had lost in the Israelis during their 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Bush feels had a mixed outcome. Lebanon's young democracy emerged from the conflict stronger for having endured the test, Bush said, but "the result for Israel was mixed". "Its military campaign weakened Hezbollah and helped secure its border. At the same time, the Israelis' shaky military performance cost them international credibility," Bush wrote. Agencies Bush confronts Darth Vader, rapper and other demons in memoirs — RT Russian politics Tags Conflict , Election , Obama , Bush , Politics , Mass media , Afghanistan , Iraq , USA , Robert Bridge George W. Bush was often criticized for the number of vacation days he racked up during his two-term presidency.

According to one report, the 43rd president spent 487 days camped out at Camp David, the presidential retreat, and another 490 days at his Crawford ranch. How many other days were spent in sober reflection of the monumental duties that lay before him would be mere speculation. Yet there is a studious side to the former American president after all. Following his painful, slow-motion tumble from power, which saw even the reddest states finally throw up their arms in exasperation, Bush isolated himself from the public for two lonely years. In that time, he set about dictating his presidential memoirs, entitled “Decision Points,” a 500-page brick for fans and critics alike. The length of this political autobiography could be due to the fact that no other former US president has more explaining to do than George W. Bush. Indeed, three of the most momentous events in modern American history came to pass on this man’s watch: 9/11, Katrina and the Afghanistan-Iraq Wars. Perfect timing First, when considering Bush's memoirs it is important to remember the historical context.

After all, the US Republicans, unlike the bumbling Democrats, don’t do anything by accident; there is no such thing as coincidence for these power-hungry predators. Or to paraphrase the inimitable Will Rogers: “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.” Thus, it was no coincidence that Bush’s much-hyped book party occurred on the very eve of the mega-decisive midterm elections, which, incidentally, gave US President Barack Obama and his lackadaisical liberals a much-deserved lashing. The timing for the release of Bush’s memoirs proved critical for several reasons. First, Dubya has a peculiar way of attracting an outpouring of public sympathy. The American people have a soft spot in their heads for leaders who habitually mangle verb tenses and forget what capital city they may happen to be visiting at any particular time. Most of us happily relate to these all-too human moments. Bush’s book handlers, however, were smart enough not to release the entire shipment until after the midterm elections were safely in the rearview mirror.

By giving the book a limited sneak preview, the Republicans revealed just enough behind-the-scenes stuff about Bush to inspire some sort of sympathy, yet not enough to incur the old wrath of the Republican base. This peek-a-boo strategy, which has Karl Roves’ fingerprints all over it, seems to have worked. Thus, we learn in early reviews of the book – and on the same day as the midterm elections – that Bush (actually!) considered dumping Vice President Dick Cheney from his 2004 reelection campaign in order to eliminate the nagging suspicion that the veteran Washington insider was the one really calling the shots. It was not Bush, however, who had the nerve to confront “Darth Vader” on the matter, but rather the evil Darth Vader who brought up the suggestion to Bush that he [Cheney] be sacked. “I did consider the offer,” Bush writes, acknowledging that Cheney introduced the topic during one of their weekly lunches. “While Dick helped with important parts of our base, he had become a lightning rod for criticism from the media and the left.” “He was seen as dark and heartless – the Darth Vader of the administration,” the former president recalls.

Bush resented the idea that Cheney was thought to be the force that controlled the White House. “Accepting Dick’s offer would be one way to demonstrate that I was in charge,” Bush writes.Yet in almost the same breath, Bush relates how Cheney practically challenged the president’s cowboy credentials in the run-up to the Iraq war by asking: “Are you going to take care of this guy [Saddam Hussein], or not?” The one issue where Bush and Cheney seem to have clashed light sabers involved what to do with I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the guy who took the fall over the outing of a CIA agent’s identity. When Bush decided against giving Libby a presidential pardon, Cheney upbraided him in private. “I can’t believe you’re going to leave a soldier on the battlefield,” the vice president told him. “The comment stung,” Bush writes. “In eight years, I had never seen Dick like this, or even close to it.” Whether or not this is the stuff of good leadership qualities is left to the reader’s better judgment.

However, Bush never seems to have considered that it would have been the mark of a true leader if he had been the one to suggest to Cheney that he (Cheney) seek an early retirement, as opposed to Cheney being the first to broach the subject. In other words, Bush merely acted on Cheney’s “decision” to tender his resignation to help the party. It is too easy to imagine Bush brushing aside the suggestion with a laugh. The failure to remove individuals from positions of power despite massive failures was one of the more unfortunate features of the Bush administration. In the aftermath of 9/11, for example, when the US Air Force remained inexplicably land-locked for 90 solid minutes as lumbering hijacked commercial jets roared overhead, not a single military or civilian official lost their jobs, which would have been the normal procedure. At the very least, firing a half dozen officials, guilty or not for dereliction of duty, would have aggrandized the reputation of the president, and with it, the White House. Ditto for Hurricane Katrina and the hugely unpopular Iraq War, in which not a single weapon of mass destruction was ever unearthed.

It would be fair to add that Bush writes in his book that "No one was more shocked or angry than I was when we didn't find the weapons. I had a sickening feeling every time I thought about it. I still do." Such repeated failures, however, eventually became a load that the president was forced to carry alone. Bush’s top advisors failed their leader by not placing a large pad of pink slips on his desk, strongly advising that he use them up by dinner. That way, his minion’s heads would have rolled, instead of his own. A perfect example of solid job security in the Bush presidency is provided by Donald Rumsfeld, the whimsical defense secretary, who managed to hold onto his position even after the outrages of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and CIA rendition flights from certain European countries had grabbed international headlines. As Time magazine reported on Rummy’s eventual retirement in November 2006, after much of the damage was already done: “It's not a surprise that Rumsfeld finally resigned…What is surprising is how long it took. Well before the Army Times and Marine Times called for his resignation…the brash Secretary of Defense had lost almost all his allies inside the White House.

Just the mention of his name would cause aides to the President to grind their teeth and roll their eyes. He had become a liability to the President, and his advisers knew it and resented it. If the choice had been theirs, Rummy would have been shown the door months, if not years, ago.” The conclusion the article makes is telling today: “That Bush didn't act sooner [to force out Rumsfeld] was politically foolish. Far more seriously, by waiting so long he let his pride get in the way of a much-needed change in Iraq policy. That mistake didn't just cost the Republicans seats in the Congress. It may have cost lives.” Then Katrina comes marching in Bush’s memories of Hurricane Katrina and the death and destruction it inflicted upon New Orleans comprise one of the 14 decisions the former president analyzes in his memoirs. Bush candidly acknowledges that he did not respond as effectively to the disaster as he should have. “I should have recognized the deficiencies sooner and intervened faster,” he writes. “I prided myself on my ability to make crisp and effective decisions. Yet in the days after Katrina, that didn’t happen. The problem was not that I made the wrong decisions.

It was that I took too long to decide.” Indeed, the ill-advised photograph of the Republican president staring out the window of Air Force One, watching from a safe altitude the massive damage left by Katrina below, created the impression of a leader very much “detached” from the brutal realities on the ground. Nor does it reflect positively on Bush that he failed to learn from the mistake of his own father, George H.W. Bush, who was also criticized for “being out of touch” with the public. “I made an additional mistake by failing to adequately communicate my concern for the victims of Katrina,” he writes. “This was a problem of perception, not reality. My heart broke at the sight of helpless people trapped on their rooftops waiting to be rescued.” Yet despite the tragic scene below, Bush failed to command the pilot to land the plane to make one of those decisive photographs that could have totally changed the public’s perception on the way he handled the hurricane and the devastating floods that followed.

The ex-president then had something of a Taylor Swift moment when he admitted that the “worst moment of my presidency” was when rap star Kanye West pronounced on television at the height of the Katrina catastrophe: "George Bush doesn't care about black people." “Five years later, I can barely write these words without feeling disgusted. I am deeply insulted by the suggestion that we allowed American citizens to suffer because they were black… The more I thought about it, the angrier I felt. I was raised to believe that racism was one of the greatest evils in society," Bush writes. "I faced a lot of criticism as president. I didn't like hearing people claim I had lied about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction or cut taxes to benefit the rich. But the suggestion that I was a racist, because of the response to Katrina, represented an all-time low. I told Laura at the time that it was the worst moment of my presidency. I feel the same way today.” Perhaps the invisible thread that connects the Republican Party and the Democrats is that both George W.

Bush and his predecessor Barack Obama have been haunted by the ranting of a simple rapper (Obama called West a "jackass" after the rapper stole the spotlight from singer Taylor West during an award's ceremony). It would be hard to imagine any American leader from just 50 years past, in an age when the cult of celebrity and entertainment was not the 24/7 monster it is today, giving any attention to such ramblings. Yet today we have two politicians, from two increasingly indistinguishable parties, wasting tax payer time and money pondering over the utterances of a lone rapper. This may be a fitting metaphor for modern American politics, obsessed as it is with pandering to public opinion, instead of occasionally leading. Indeed, incessant campaigning and mudslinging, as opposed to responsible leading, has become the primary role of every politician. Never before have words become so expensive, yet at the very same time so darn cheap. Bush’s book is available from Crown Publishers for $35 dollars.

Best-Selling Political Memoirs, 2004 to 2014 - The Kojo Nnamdi Show Best-Selling Political Memoirs, 2004 to 2014 For our show on The Art of the Political Memoir , we pulled together the best-selling memoirs by political figures from May 2004 to May 2014, based on sales at independent bookstores across the United States. This list was produced by the American Booksellers Association. To find the books at an independent bookseller, click here . The list By George with Bill Harlow Tenet Harper Perennial Ahead Of The Women’s March, A Debate About The Right Tone Of A Protest Monday, Jan 16 2017More than half a century after the March On Washington protesters plan to gather for a march of a similar name: The Women's March on Washington. But some wonder whether a playful, cheeky tone will undermine the gathering's message. Decision Points or Deception Points : Bush Memoirs. - Google Groups Decision Points or Deception Points : Bush Memoirs.

Showing 1-1 of 1 messages Sadanand Patwardhan 11/11/10 4:06 AM George W Bush has told his story, not the whole story, nor the whole truth, but what he would like people to believe about himself in his memoirs Decision Points. Russ Bakers in the following article posted in AlterNet.Org sees through his deceptions. Sadanand Exposing the Dirty Truth That Bush's New Memoir Tries to Cover Up By Russ Baker, WhoWhatWhy.com In George W. Bush’s book Decision Points, the former president tells a story of his presidency based on his own say-so. In my book Family of Secrets, based on five years of research, hundreds of interviews and thousands of documents, I reveal a very different one. BUSH: Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld pushed him to invade Iraq. He portrays himself as a reluctant warrior who had qualms about resort to force. BAKER: Bush was already looking forward to invading Iraq years earlier. Bush told his own contracted ghostwriter, back in 1999, when he was not yet even the GOP nominee, that if elected president he would invade Iraq. The reason?

Score political points and secure high poll numbers. Bush confided his belief that successful presidents needed to win a war, and he thought Iraq would be an easy one. BUSH: A religious conversion changed his life. BAKER: In a way, yes; but not as Bush’s account implies. Bush’s “conversion” came after a key Bush family political adviser warned that it was impossible to win the presidency without embracing the sentiments of America’s huge bloc of fundamentalist Christians. BUSH: He was mortified by the disaster that resulted from Hurricane Katrina (and takes some responsibility for the slow response) BAKER: The incompetence of the federal government was the result of willful neglect of FEMA, the agency in charge of response. Bush and his team were interested in weakening and defunding agencies like FEMA, and outsourcing their functions and budgets to friends and supporters. BUSH: His father did not have much influence with him, beyond being generally supportive offstage. BAKER: Father and son were joined in the family enterprise from the start. Their respective ventures in the oil business were connected to covert intelligence operations. Most of the key figures in bringing Bush to power and keeping him there were associates of his father. Those are just a few of the problems with the Bush narrative.

But the principal failing of Decision Points is that it skips over so much that is crucial to understanding the man and his presidency. It is not accidental that, like his father, George W. chose not to write a full-bore memoir that would have brought this broader focus into play. Here are a few examples of what Bush has chosen not to tell us: -A Good Cleaning Saves a Presidency: Two generations of George Bushes, working together, used a simple dental exam to cover up the son’s disappearance from the military during the Vietnam War. The trick has successfully deflected inquiry for nearly four decades. -“A Higher Father”: George W. Bush’s claim that he didn’t ask his father for advice on Iraq but rather turned to a “higher father” for guidance was a story most of the media found too good to check. Reporters also recited faithfully the supposed generational schism between father and son that cast George W. as a genuine rough-hewn Texan, unlike his father, whose political career was hobbled and re-election bid foiled in part because he could never shed his establishment trappings. In fact, George W. Bush and George H.W.

Bush were not just close—they were partners in complex political and intelligence operations that are to this day completely unknown to the public. -Oil the Presidents Men: A close friend of George W. Bush helped provide cover for W’s disappearance from the Texas Air National Guard unit in which both served. He then was rewarded with a lucrative assignment as middleman between Saudi oil interests and the Bush family, that included financing of the illegal Iran-Contra operation and an alliance with a clan called Bin Laden. -Land of Opportunity: One of the strangest companies ever to appear in the oil business, tied to the CIA, foreign dictators, money launderers, and illicit caches of gold, helped fund George W. Bush’s rise to the presidency. -The Loan (ar)Ranger— A group of individuals seeking favor with the administration of Bush’s father subsidized George W. Bush’s stock holdings in the Texas Rangers baseball team. They created a lucrative virtual no-show job that associated him with a popular local sports franchise and also with a business success. Later, Bush sold his Rangers stock at a big gain to a man he enabled to profit off University of Texas pension funds—and who ultimately put the Rangers into bankruptcy.

- Back in the Saddle, Temporarily: The Crawford ranch was a favored venue for photo ops of a president supposedly more at home clearing brush than behind a White House desk. Yet George W.—a product of Eastern establishment pillars such as Philips Andover, Yale, and Harvard— bought the ranch shortly before he ran for president, and rarely visits it now that he’s back in Texas. -Making (Up) The Grade: Bush’s future Education Secretary faked the Texas school performance numbers that helped persuade voters that Bush was the man to fix the nation’s schools. - An Eye for Talent: Bush touted his environmental convictions during his presidential campaign. Then he turned the Environmental Protection Agency’s most polluted region over to a car dealer who had helped Bush earn a fortune off the Texas Rangers baseball team. - Lemons Into Lemonade: The Bush forces went into the 2004 campaign with a major vulnerability – evidence that, after a plum position in the Texas Air National Guard enabled him to avoid Vietnam, he disappeared from the final third of his obligatory—if cushy—Guard stint.

With Bush facing media inquiries from an aggressive CBS News and a daunting threat from John Kerry, a Democratic opponent with a bona fide war record in the jungles of Indochina, the then-president’s disinformation machine went into action. In the end, John Kerry was politically wounded and CBS anchorman Dan Rather professionally destroyed. News organizations abandoned intensive scrutiny of Bush, and he squeaked through to another term. -Keyboard Kops: George W. affected a Bubba persona that the media generally bought, and that gained him slack for gaffes and incompetencies. But when it came to strategy and tactics, he actually was sly like a fox. He once confided to an adviser how naïve journalists are, and how easy to fool. His example: hide tactical information “in plain sight” for reporters to “find” and report as inside dope. -A Bush In Your Future? Notwithstanding George W. Bush’s purported Texas isolation and his general silence since leaving Washington, the Bush family enterprise remains as viable as ever. Members of their circle work in the Obama administration, while his brother Jeb gears up for a possible national campaign of his own—raising the prospect of a third Bush in the White House.

Meanwhile, through Decision Points, the upcoming George W. Bush presidential library/democracy “think tank”, and the active role of his lieutenant Karl Rove in orchestrating a GOP comeback, they are already rewriting past history—and defining history yet to come.

Question: The memoirs of which US politican are called Decision Points?
Answer: George W. Bush